This invention relates generally to vertical carriers or boats for holding semiconductor wafers during heat processing and is particularly concerned with a vertical carrier designed to effectively support large semiconductor wafers having nominal diameters equal to or greater than about 200 millimeters, preferably wafers having nominal diameters of about 300 millimeters or greater.
Semiconductor wafers, especially those made of silicon, may be conventionally processed by placing them horizontally into a holding device or carrier at intervals in the vertical direction and exposing the wafer""s surfaces to high temperature gases in a furnace, usually to form an oxide film on these surfaces or to deposit certain atoms therein. To maximize the amount of surface area exposed to the heat treatment, the wafers are usually held in xe2x80x9cboatsxe2x80x9d or carriers typically comprised of parallel vertical supports or rails having relatively short slots evenly spaced along their length. The slots in one support are normally aligned with slots in the other support so a wafer can be jointly received by a corresponding slot in each support. By placing wafers in appropriate slots on the supports, the boat can carry a stack of wafers separated from each other so that both sides of the wafer are exposed to the heat treatment.
In the past, conventional vertical boats and carriers have been designed to support wafers having nominal diameters of 200 millimeters or less. These size wafers are typically supported by slots on the vertical rails that extend inward around the edge of the wafer only a very short distance, usually less than about 20 millimeters. Unfortunately, when such a design is utilized to support larger wafers, i.e., wafers having a nominal diameter greater than about 200 millimeters, the wafers are deflected by their own weight and tend to sag. As the temperature in the furnace rises, this sagging or deformation results in crystal dislocation or xe2x80x9cslipxe2x80x9d and other stresses on the wafer. Although xe2x80x9cslipxe2x80x9d typically begins to occur at about 1200xc2x0 C. for wafers having nominal diameters of 200 millimeters, it probably occurs at a temperature of 1000xc2x0 C. or less for wafers having diameters of 300 millimeters or larger. Crystal dislocations caused by stresses on the wafers result in a decrease in the number of chips that can be made on a wafer. This reduction in product yield increases with wafer size, and therefore the processing of larger wafers in conventional vertical boats has been generally avoided.
Various techniques have been suggested in an attempt to decrease the bending stress on wafers. One method suggested is to locate the rails or vertical supports of the boat or carrier more toward the front of the carrier where the wafers are loaded. This, however, is difficult because of the need for an unobstructed wafer loading path. Another technique for decreasing bending stress on large wafers is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,229, the disclosure of which patent is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This patent teaches the use of relatively long support teeth, i.e., the support arms formed by long slits or slots on the support rail, with small contact pads located at or near the end of the teeth for supporting the wafers toward their center and not at their edges. According to this patent, the contact pads or support projections are located such that the inner portion of each wafer is supported by the pad while the peripheral portion, i.e., the portion of the wafer which extends from the edge of the wafer inward a distance of up to 10% of the wafer""s radius, does not contact the pads or arms. By supporting the wafers at their inner portion, this design not only reduces the stress on the wafer caused by its own weight but also decreases heat stress caused by direct heat transfer to the wafer from the slits in the vertical supports.
Although the above-discussed patent proposes the use of long support arms or teeth in order to decrease stress on the wafer, the wafer support is far from uniform as it relies on small contact pads located at or near the end of the support arms, which pads occupy only a small portion of the length of the support arm and contact only a small area of each wafer. Moreover, the design shown in the patent results in reduced tooth strength caused by the removal of material from the top of the tooth to form the small support pads or projections.
In accordance with the invention, it has now been found that more uniform support for large semiconductor wafers can be achieved in vertical wafer carriers by using long teeth or support arms containing a raised support structure that typically extends along each tooth a distance greater than about 50%, preferably greater than about 70%, of the tooth""s length in such a manner as to provide support for each wafer from a point located inward from the edge of the wafer a distance equal to less than 9% of the wafer""s radius to a point located from the center of the wafer a distance equal to between about 25% and about 80% of the wafer""s radius. Such teeth and their associated support structures can provide essentially continuous support from the wafer periphery inward and effectively reduce stress induced by the wafer""s own weight. Moreover, by utilizing a support structure integral with each tooth that extends from the front tip of a tooth to near its back end, the strength of each individual tooth is increased.
Typically, the wafer carriers of the invention effectively support semiconductor wafers having diameters between about 195 and 410 millimeters utilizing three or more support rails which extend vertically between a top portion and a bottom portion of the carrier. The raised structure which supports the wafers generally runs from the tip of a tooth continuously toward the back and has a surface area between about 20 and about 200 square millimeters when supporting wafers having nominal diameters between 200 and 400 millimeters. Typically, the support structure is a ledge which runs along one side of each tooth and continuously supports the wafer from the edge of the wafer to a point located from the center of the wafer between about 40% and about 65% of the wafer""s radius.
The use of a structure that extends over 50% of the length of a tooth to support a wafer, as opposed to a support projection or pad as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,229, results in more effective and uniform support for the wafer and thereby more effectively decreases the stress on the wafer caused by its own weight. In addition, such a support structure, when integral with each tooth, provides increased strength to the teeth of the carrier.